Alabama, Michigan and Georgia have all closed media viewing at their respective practices Monday ahead of the College Football Playoff semifinals, Sports Illustrated‘s Pat Forde reports.
The Crimson Tide was reportedly first to cancel media viewing at AT&T Stadium, news that was first reported by AL.com’s Joseph Goodman.
Both No. 2 Michigan and No. 3 Georgia followed suit ahead of Friday’s Orange Bowl in Miami. No. 1 Alabama will face No. 4 Cincinnati, who did not close its media viewing Monday, in the Cotton Bowl on Friday in Arlington, Texas. However, per Sports Illustrated‘s Ross Dellenger, all four playoff teams are expected to cancel the 15-minute media windows starting tomorrow.
No official reason was given by any of the programs for the cancellation, which comes in the wake of the Fenway Bowl and Military Bowl being canceled on Sunday due to COVID-19 outbreaks.
On Sunday, Alabama coach Nick Saban said the team has not had to make too many adjustments to mitigating the risk of COVID-19 despite both Bill O’Brien and offensive line coach Doug Marrone testing positive last week.
“We implemented the masks, the social distancing in meetings with players way back when we started,” Saban said, per Bama Central. “So, we’re already doing all the protocols that we feel we possibly can. Our team’s all been vaccinated. 92% of our players have also had boosters.
“…So, if there were some new protocols that would help us be safer, we would certainly implement them. But I think we tried to implement all that we know that has worked in the past.”
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